Railway traffic controlling apparatus



March 7, 1933. c M HlNEs 1,900,713

RAILWAY TRAFFIC CONTROLLING APPARATUS Filed May 11, 1931 INVENTOR. CW/7. F/[nas BY wallvwxe MW ATTORNEY.

Patented Mar. 7, 1933 UNITED STATES- PATENT OF F ICE CLAUDE M. HINES, OFEDGEWOOD, PENNSYLVANIA, ASSIGNOR TO THE UNION SWITCH &*SIGNAL COMPANY,OF SW ISSVALE, PENNSYLVANIA, A CORPORATION OF PENNSYL- VANIA Applicationfiled May 11,

My invention relates to railway trafiic controlling apparatus, and hasfor' an object the protection of such apparatus from excessive currentsthat might be injurious.

I'will describe one form of the apparatus embodying my invention,andwill then point out the novel features thereof in'claims.

The accompanying. drawing is a diagramnfrati'c'view, showing one form ofapparatus embodying my invention.

Referring to 'the drawing, the reference character A designates arailway switch which is actuated by an electric motor M having'anarmature 1 and a field 2. Operatively connected with the switch is acutout controller MO comprising a contact arm 50 and contacts 3 and 4.Contact 503 is closed at all times except when the switch occupies itsextreme reverse position, and contact 504 is closed at all times exceptwhen the switch occupies its extreme normal position.

The motor M is controlled in part by a.

circuit controller designated by the reference character P, and whichis, in turn, controlled'by a pole-changer L which may be incorporated ina switch lever of an inter locking'machine. The circuit controller Pcomprises an electromagnet 9, made up of 'two windings 9 and 9 and apolarized winding 10 which is preferably provided with a permanentlymagnetized core 11. Pivotally attached to the core 11 is an armature 12which is therefore polarized by flux from the permanent magnet core 11at such times as winding 10 is not carrying current. It follows thatwhen the electromagnet 9 is suppliedwith current of one polarity, thearmature 12 will be swung in a clockwise direction, but that'whencurrent of the oppositepolarity is supplied to electromagnet 9," thearmature will be swung in the opposite direction. The armature 12controls three pivoted contact yokes 13, 14 and 15 through suitablelinkage in such manner that the yokes occupy their right-hand positionswhen the armature is swung to the left, and vice-versa'.

The reference character B designates a neu- -tral magnet which controlsa pivoted arma RAILWAY TRAFFIC CONTROLLING APPARATUS 1931. Serial No.536,497.

the path of movement of a. portion of armature 12 to prevent reversal ofthe armature 12 when the neutral magnet B is deener gized. Pivotallyattached to the armature 17 is a link'19 provided with a slot 43 whichat times engages a pin 42 in a rockerarm 70 which carries a contactfinger 20. When magnet B is deenergized, the link 19 moves the rockerarm 7 0 against the bias exerted by spring 44 into a position in whichthe contact finger 20 connects wire 33 with wire 34'. When neutralmagnet B is energized, however, the spring 44 urges the rocker arm 70into a position wherein the contact be tween wires 33 and34 isinterrupted.

The apparatus thus far referred to is illustrated and described inUnited States Letters Patent No. 1,722,364, granted to Henry S. Young onthe 30th day of July, 1929, for railway trafiic controlling apparatus.

The reference character R designates an automatic thermal overloadcircuit breaker.

The circuit breaker It comprises a tripping.

core 25 on which are windings 23 and 24, and a holding core 36 on whichare windings 28 and 29. Tripping windings 23 and 24 in turn areconnected in series with the motor circuit so that they carry the entiremotor operating current. Holding windings 28 and. 29 are connectedacross windings 23 and 24, respectively, through the heating winding andcontact of their associated thermal relay T or T. Armature 21-of thecircuit breaker is normally held open by rod 27 due to the compressionof spring 22 and the attraction of armature 26. When armature 21 isattracted, detent 57 will be raised, raisinglink 19 and thus disengagingslot 43 from pin 42 and opening contact 33-34. The parts of the circuitbreaker R are so designed that as long as either of the two windings oncore 36 is fully energized, the maximum amount of current that can bedrawn by the switch motor, passing through either coil 23 or 24, willnot attract the armature 21 against the pull of the armature 26 byeither coil 28 or 29.

'As shown in the drawing, the switch A occupies its normal position; theneutral magnet B is deenergized thereby locking armature 12 of circuitcontroller P in its left-hand position; and the pole-changer on theswitch lever occupies its normal position.

l/Vhen the switch is to be moved to the reverse position, pole-changer Lwill hereversed, thereby reversingcontroller P. The motor circuit willthen be from terminal BH of a source of current, through wire 7 wire 18,wire 33, contact 20, wire 34, wire 30, yoke 13, flexible connector 54,wire 35, armature 1, wire 41, flexible connector 53, yoke 14,

wire 45, wire 47, tripping winding 23, wire 48, wire 49, contact 3,contact arm 50, andfield 2 to terminal CH of the same source of current.The holding coil 28 associated with this motor circuit is energized bythe voltage drop across winding The holding coil 28 is connected acrosswinding 23 through wire 48, winding 18, wire 55, contact 3837,

61, contact 4, controller arm 50, and field sociated with this circuitis winding 29, and

2 to terminal CH. The holding coil asit is connected across winding 24through wire 60, winding 16,wire 64, contact 4656,

wire 63, winding 29, wire 62 and wire 59.

armature 17 is again released.

In describing the operation of the apparatus, I will assume it isdesired to move the switch to the reverse position. Pole-changer L willbe reversed, so that current will flow through neutral magnet B, thusattracting armature 17 and closing suitable contacts so that thepolarity of controller P is reversed, and armature 12 will move to theright in which position it is locked and The movement of armature 12 tothe right will move yokes 13, 14 and 15 to the left, completing themotor circuit when armature 17 is released, thereby closing contact33-34 through contact 20, and the switch will move to the re verseposition. If an obstruction occurs in switch A while movlng to thereverse position, the motor current will rise above the value necessaryto operate thermal relay T andcontact 37-38 will open, opening theholding coil circuit of winding 28. With the holding coil circuit open,armature 26 is not attracted, and armature 21 will be pulled down by theattraction of energized coil 23. Detent 57 willthen raise link 19,disengaging slot 43 from pin. 42, and arm will move to the right due tothe bias exerted by compressed spring 44. Contact 33-34 willtherefore'be opened, opening the 'motor circuit. The circuit breaker,once motor circuit .will then bev completed for reverse rotation whenarmature 17 is released closing contact 3334 through contact 20. Whenthe switch returns to the original position, the operation maybefrepeated as first described. v Y

In asimilar manner it the switch is to be moved from the reverseposition to the normal, the pole-changer L is moved to the positionshown on the drawing, thus energizing neutral magnet B and attracting armature 17. Armature 17 will close, suitable cont-acts which energizepolar relay P so that armature 12 will move to the left, and

yokes 13, 14 and 15 will move to the right,

completing the motor circuit when armature 17 is released to closecontact 3334 through contact 20. The switch'will then move to the normalposition. If an obstruction oc curs in switch A while it is moving tothe normal position, the motor current will rise above the valuenecessary to operate thermal relay T, and contact 46-56 will open,opening the holding coil circuit of winding 29. Vviththe holding coilcircuit open, armature 26 will not be attracted, and armature 21 will bepulled down by the attractionrof energized coil 24. Detent 57 will thenraise link 19, disengaging slot 43 from pin 42, and arm 70 will move tothe right due to the bias exertedby compressed spring 44. Contact 3334will then be opened, opening the motor circuit. The circuit breakerbeing tripped will not reset until controller P has moved to theopposite position; Resetting the controller is accomplished by reversingpole-changer L, thus energizing neutral magnet B and attracting armature17 and mov ing link 19 so that slot 43 engages'pin 42. Armature 17 willclose suitable contacts which energize polar relay P, reversing itspolarity, and armature 12 will move to the right, moving yokes 13, 14and 15' to the left, and the motor circuit will be completed whenarmature 17 is released to close contact 33'-34 through contact 20. Whenswitch A returns to the original position, the operation may be repeatedas before described. p

.One advantage of apparatus embodying my invention is that it ispossible to restore the switch to its last operated position immediatelyand 'to attempt to operate the switch again in the direction in which itfailed as soon as the thermal relay for that direction has cooled so asto complete the holding coil circuit.

Another advantage is that the holding windings are normally deenergized,being active only when the motor is being operated.

A further advantage is that an attempt to operate the motor in the samedirection which previously resulted in opening of the thermal relaycontact and tripping of the circuit breaker cannot delay the closing ofthis contact in any manner because the thermal relay winding carries nopart of the motor current after its contact has once opened.

Although I have herein shown and described only one form of apparatusembodying my invention, it is understood that various changes andmodificatitons may be made therein within the scope of the appendedclaims without departing from the spirit and scope of my invention.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim is:

1. In combination, an electric motor, an operating circuit for saidmotor, a circuit breaker for controlling the supply of current to saidmotor having a first and a second core, an operating winding on saidfirst core included in said motor circuit, means controlled by saidoperating winding for tripping said circuit breaker, athermal relayhaving a heating winding and a normally closed contact, a holdingwinding on said second core connected in parallel with said operatingwinding and including said heating winding and said contact in serieswhereby said holding winding and said heating winding become energizedfrom the potential across said operating winding over said contact, andmeans controlled by said holding winding for preventing said circuitbreaker from tripping.

2. In combination, an electric motor, an operating circuit for saidmotor, a circuit breaker for controlling the supply of current to saidmotor having a first and a second core, an operating winding on saidfirst core included in said motor circuit, means controlled by saidoperating winding it'or tripping said circuit breaker, a holding windingon said second core, a thermal relay comprising a heating windingconnected in series with said holding winding and a contact, meanscontrolled by said contact for energizing said holding winding and saidheating winding in series from the potential across said operatingwinding, and means controlled by said holding winding for preventingsaid circuit breaker from tripping.

In testimony whereof I aflix my signature.

CLAUDE M. HINES.

